Coaches work to simplify offense for Daniels, young backups

Posted Aug 16, 2010 by Scott Carter

Updated Aug 16, 2010 at 11:06 PM

VERO BEACH – USF held its final two-a-day practice of fall camp on Monday, spending most of the morning practice working on the passing game and much of the night session working on the running game.

After the offense struggled in Saturday’s scrimmage, USF coach Skip Holtz and his staff watched a lot of film on the passing game on Sunday.

“We’ve got to really bring it all together,’’ Holtz said Monday night. “The O-line in front, the quarterback in the pocket, making the reads, reading the different coverages, protection, hot routes, blitzes—all that stuff. We worked really hard this morning on a lot of the corrections we need to make in the passing game. We’ve got to be smart about this.’’

Holtz gave quarterback-turned-receiver Evan Landi some snaps in the morning practice to get him mentally engaged in playing QB if needed, and reminded the staff of Daniels’ inexperience. While he said they won’t scale back on teaching a new offense to Daniels, they will try to be more efficient.

“We’re not taking anything out, we’re just really trying to simplify what we’re doing with some of his reads,’’ Holtz said. “We’re trying to simplify it to where we can reduce some things down for him. It’s important that we put him in a position to have success.

“We’ve got to remember: B.J. is a sophomore, and behind him we’ve got two true freshmen. What we know [the coaches] is absolutely irrelevant. It’s what they can go out there on that field and execute.’‘

Daniels took the field Monday focused on making sure he performs better than his 7-for-22 performance in Saturday’s scrimmage. USF scrimmages again on Saturday after returning to Tampa later this week.

“A lot I wanted to work on,’’ Daniels said. “We just want to get clicking and make sure we get on the same page. We have to put the ball in the end zone more. We didn’t do that too often in the last scrimmage.’’

GIDDINS UPDATE: No player on USF’s roster came out of high school more highly touted than redshirt freshman DE Ryne Giddins, a former standout at Armwood High.

Giddins is working mostly on the second-team behind senior David Bedford at LDE, but defensive ends coach Vernon Hargreaves said Monday that Giddins will have an important role.

“He’s extremely talented. He is still learning how to be a college football player,’’ Hargreaves said. “The things he did in high school, he probably didn’t have to work as hard because he was better than everybody else. Now, he’s just learning how to push himself.

“David Bedford has stepped up as a senior, but I feel good about Ryne spelling him and getting into the ballgame and making something happen.’‘

CENTERS OF ATTENTION: Starting C Sampson Genus went down with a lower-body injury during Monday’s night practice. Holtz is optimistic Genus will return to practice on Tuesday.

With Genus out, Kevin McCaskill and Danous Estenor delivered the snaps. While several exchanges were fumbled, Holtz wants to build depth behind Genus.

“We’re trying to find out who our different options are out center,’’ Holtz said. “So we’re rolling three different centers right now; we’re getting a lot of evaluation work, and I think we’re getting better.’‘

DODGERTOWN MEMENTO: Holtz received a special gift from Vero Beach resident and longtime Dodgers fan Terry Wright.

Wright, 52, has attended nearly every one of USF’s practices at Dodgertown and gave Holtz a Duke Snider-autographed bat on Sunday.

“I just want him to have this as a souvenir from our history here and thank him for bringing the team over,’’ Wright said.

BULL BITS: Holtz will meet with OL Josh Garvin, who has not been at camp due to personal reasons, when the Bulls return to Tampa to evaluate Garvin’s future … DT Cory Grissom (left foot) missed much of the night practice … RB Joel Miller worked some at slot WR on Monday ... USF athletic director Doug Woolard and athletic department official Lee Roy Selmon visited Monday morning’s practice; Woolard returned Sunday from Brazil where the USF men’s basketball team competed in the Pan American University Championships.